Holiday hell for Cumbernauld woman on smoke-filled plane

The Jet2 flight was bound for Alicante with 189 passengers and six crew on board when the incident happened on Friday morning. Eye-witnesses claimed they saw flames shoot out of an engine and then smoke filled the cabin. The pilot peformed an emergency stop and everyone was taken off by emergency chutes.

“There was a smell of burning rubber as we were directed towards the doors,” said the auxiliary nurse from Greenfaulds who work nights at Glasgow Royal Infirmary as she prepares to celebrate 40 years with the NHS in November.

“As a nurse, my reaction was to try to tell people around me to stay calm as everyone was panicking, then when I came down the chute I could no one at the bottom apart from passengers.

“I slid off the chute and landed on my back: I hurt my ankle and leg when I fell.

“It was terrible! We waited hours before we got a cup of tea – as a nurse, I knew this was something we should have had much quick to help the cold and settle the patients, many of whom were elderly.

“We had to wait ages before we even got a bottle of water.”

As passengers prepare to re-board the plan, Marie Therese (67) decided she had had enough.

She added: “I was planning to visit my sister but with a sore back, sore side, sore right leg and ankle I decided not to go back on board but just to go home and rest up.”

The cause is under investigation.